Polyurethane sheet materials are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,573 discloses a halogen-free acrylic urethane sheet material which can be marked by conventional printing methods and by radiation methods.
Paint replacement films find use in many areas. One area of particular interest is paint replacement films for exterior surfaces of vehicles. Paint replacement films on vehicles must have acceptable colour consistency, weatherability, chemical resistance and durability.
Prior art paint replacement films include those based on polyvinyl chloride (PVC). As well as pure PVC films, PVC films with a top-coat are also known the top-coat being used to improve weatherability, chemical resistance and durability. Known top-coats are relatively hard with the consequence that they are not stretchable, which may sometimes lead to top-coat cracks after exterior exposure. There is generally a need, because of environmental concerns, to reduce the amount of PVC. Paint replacement films based on a dual cure polyurethane (PU) system are known.
Other paint replacement films based on fluoropolymer films on backing sheets are known. WO-A-2007/059282 discloses a decorative paint film laminate having high gloss and distinctness of image after processing for providing a decorative finish for a part. The films of WO-A-2007/059282 contain polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), or polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) fluoropolymer layers.
Multilayer sheets intended for paint replacement for thermoforming are also known including a product consisting of a carrier layer, a layer of acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA)/polycarbonate (PC), and a top layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA).
For many of these known films, film coated surfaces have properties that are close to the requirements of paint coated surfaces. However, some of the films suffer disadvantages that prevent or reduce their general use as paint replacements. The known films can usually only be applied during manufacture of vehicle (or other) components e.g. door or roof.
There is a need to provide paint replacement films, especially for vehicles, with properties of chemical resistance and weatherability that are close to those of paint as well as stretchability.